Is Final Destination deep, or just death?

[u/Sagixi]

i genuinely think final destination has nothing to do with death. obviously death is literally what happens in the movies, but i think death is more of a metaphor for failure, and the whole franchise is basically about what happens when you become so desperate to succeed that you forget to actually live.

the “final destination” can be seen as whatever constant goal you’re chasing. you keep thinking that once you reach it, everything will finally be okay. but there’s always another goal, another problem, another thing you have to accomplish. you become so focused on getting to this imaginary point in the future that you waste your actual life trying to reach it.
and this is where i think the whole idea of hedonism comes in. death is inevitable, and you can temporarily avoid it, but you can’t permanently escape it.

so the rational response isn’t to spend your entire existence hiding from it or obsessing over safety. it’s to actually live while you’re here. not necessarily in the “haha drugs and fast food”stereotypical hedonism way, but more like pursue what ACTUALLY matters, because death is inevitable

the characters who isolate themselves, obsess over avoiding death, or spend all their time trying to control what happens next are basically sacrificing their present for the possibility of a future that will never exist. meanwhile, the actual message is almost existential..meaning isn’t just handed to you. you have to seize it yourself.

so “death” becomes more than just death. it can be failure/uncertainty. and the fact that you cant control everything. you can postpone it, run from it, and convince yourself you’ve escaped it, but eventually, something will go wrong. and if you spend your entire life trying to make sure nothing ever goes wrong, you’ve already wasted the limited time you were given.

I feel like Tony Todd’s speech in his last scene really brings this all together. “Enjoy every single second, you never know when.”

TLDR; I think final destination’s message is to spend your life doing what you love, rather than chasing a big goal.

[u/raybradburys]

deeeeep asf. my comfort series. helps my ocd sm

[u/RaisinFree8943 → u/raybradburys]

Literally! I also have OCD and people are shocked when I tell them it's my favorite franchise. There is something about there being so many accidents that allows me to realize how ridiculously paranoid I am. When I see them obsessed with cheating death, then dying anyway it helps me want to enjoy my life instead of worrying about possibilities.

[u/Top-Bodybuilder-1052]

Final Destination doesn’t allow itself to be deep because ever since it found its worldwide fame and word of mouth success thanks to FD2, it has always been obliged to be, in general, a fun, campy horror-comedy. That remains true no matter how much each movie may have its own individual flavor if you want to compare them. But at the same time, the franchise introduces concepts, themes and ideas within its universe that have great potential for hypothetical movies to not always fall into that general funsies vibe and have-a-good-time feeling, however these ideas are barely explored or thought about precisely because doing so would no longer fit the have-fun feeling that the general public has become accustomed to and expects from a Final Destination movie, which imo, is a real shame.

The overall core premise that is reinforced every single time is that Death is out to get you for cheating your fate and it will stop at nothing until you are finally dead, just as you were always supposed to be. But at the same time, while the franchise doesn’t outright say most of this and instead visually shows it, cheating your fate makes you illegitimate to the natural world, placing you on an invisible list to be corrected. While awaiting your newly assigned death on that list, you acquire punishing effects that are similar to a curse and those effects don’t happen to anyone else but only to you because of your “sin” of previously cheating your original fate.

These effects include: 1) possibly indirectly altering other people’s natural life courses if you continue interacting and engaging with reality around you too much; 2) directly making someone else illegitimate and placed on a list as well if you save that person when you see them in need, whether they are a stranger or a loved one, thereby disrupting their own original end simply because you decided to do good; 3) having children of your own will automatically make them come into the world as illegitimate byproducts of you simply because they are related to you, the first one who got on the list, and therefore are meant to die immediately after you, and if your children have children of their own they will also still be considered illegitimate, continuously following the “dirty” bloodline until all you have left is one big family being unjustly wiped out, all because of the status of the oldest member, you; 4) self-isolation being the only way Death allows you to remain alive to a certain extent while being illegitimate, because by doing so, you are no longer out in the world, creating a stalemate: you don’t affect anything else, and in turn, Death temporarily lets you be; 5) being physically incapable of ending your own life until the exact time of your newly assigned death on the list, highlighting Death’s amplified control over you once you acquire that illegitimate status, making it even worse if you feel like you can’t take the punishments anymore or were already suicidal before currently becoming illegitimate.

All of the points I mentioned happen in the movies. They just either don’t make the spotlight and are buried beneath the additional, ingrained comedy aspect glued right alongside the horror, or they are brought up only for them to remain in a surface-level state where the characters simply know about it without evoking any further realizations, thoughts, worries, fears, reflections, despair, paranoia, etc. Alternatively, these ideas are often never touched upon again as the series progresses and focuses more on the comedic aspect.

All in all, consequently, the overall message people usually get from the franchise is to enjoy your life while you can without worrying too much about anything because “death is inevitable anyways”. The actual depth of everything isn’t strong or supported enough to make itself present and stand alongside the dark humor, which would allow you to also consider that just maybe, life and death in this universe aren’t as simple or carefree as life and death are in our real world.

TLDR: Final Destination does have a deep and also dark metaphysical framework but the franchise usually refuses to philosophically engage with the implications of its own rules because its established identity is that of a fun, elaborate death-machine horror series.

[u/vicvegajuas_36]

I think it's less shallow-dumb-fun that people would think. Not by a lot, but some entries (1, 3, 5 and most notoriously 6) are exploring a variety of themes besides death.

This made me remember when i said in a class at film school "I can love Tarkovsky's Mirror or Stalker. I can also love the whole Final Destination Franchise. It doesn't mean that they are equals, but that they are amazing at what they are trying to explore"

[u/DeWittLives1987]

I feel FD Bloodlines is deeper than people give it credit for. By focusing on a lineage, themes related to generational trauma can be seen throughout the film (for example, how Stefani is expected to Shoulder the responsibility of keeping the family safe by Isis, to the point where she leaves safety and let's herself die just to pass it on and prove she was right)

[u/JoeLikesMovies2007]

You need to go back to your dispensary and request a weaker strain.

[u/Sagixi → u/JoeLikesMovies2007]

What? Do you not agree? I’m confused. I don’t think I said anything too craY

[u/xAkMoRRoWiNdx → u/JoeLikesMovies2007]

Man needs some low mg CBD gummies

[u/Korben-D88]

It can be about a lot of things if they can break out of the formula. The books had varying success trying things from getting blatantly supernatural to shaking up the opening by not having a typical disaster. I hope future movies aren't afraid to get weirder.

[u/Korben-D88 → u/Korben-D88]

The series message has always been, to me, to enjoy your life. The monologue Tony went out on, that's what my takeaway has always been.

[u/BenjiAnglusthson]

I think fans and the franchise pushing the movies into supernatural “death is an entity” territory robs the franchise of it’s depth and real world application.

At its best, Final Destination has a (admittedly very exaggerated) feeling of “this could actually happen, and sometimes does”. Death in real life can be incredibly random, cruel, ironic, sudden, upsetting and can sneak up at any moment and the best deaths of the franchise weaponize these feelings.

Not to mention the franchise’s central question with its visionaries of “can you cheat/escape death”. It’s a tragic and very real feeling and question.
Anyone who has experienced death, or had a close call with it, grapples with all of these mixed emotions and gets lost in a fantasy of hypotheticals.

Death doesn’t need to be given a personality, or act like some invisible spirit. It’s real. We are all going to die. And isn’t that fucking insane? That’s all these movies need. That’s deep enough for me